The tour will consist of “DIY” events (like the kickoff this evening) featuring bands, music, and readers, as well as school-sponsored panels, bringing POC zines into the university. For a preview, see a video of our Meet Me at the Race Riot event produced by Barnard.

I think that being able to tour & travel has helped me deal with how white punk can be because I’ve been able to make connections with black & brown punks all over the country and even internationally.

Even though zines are largely seen as either a literary art form or as a “music thing,” imagine the transformative nature that zines could have in all aspects of our lives? The power of narratives being read straight from the pens of those living them with out fear of persecution within and outside of their own community, or, inversely, the recognition of a POC voice within their community and power lying in the ease in which a zine can be created—we don’t need anyone’s publishing money, we don’t need anyone’s approval.

I wanted to go on this tour… to connect with other punks of color about this thing we love and sometimes hate, to present something –a zine, a tour— that might make sense of that push and pull and give it a history, and then to create something new between us.

I decided to join the [POC Zine Project] tour because I thought it was an awesome opportunity to hang out with women of colour who I could hopefully talk to about things that I think about alot, but don’t necessarily get to talk about that much in the communities and cities that I live in! I’m working on the third issue of my punk zine Fix My Head, which is a collection of interviews with “Punx of Colour,” mostly women who have been playing in hardcore/punk bands for some time, and their experiences of racism/fetishisation/exclusion/etc.

A groundbreaking installation by women of African descent, Asian, White, Latina and Native American women intentionally scheduled to open on the eve of the 4th of July at the Museum of Women’s Resistance (MoWRe) at Black Women’s Blueprint.

The installation features a series of photo images capturing historical and contemporary sexist and racist constructions of female sexuality in America that perpetuate rape culture, the violation of bodily integrity, violation of rights, and reinforce messages that the denigration of the female body is permissible. The installation juxtaposes narratives from various cultures in America, highlighting complex differences as well as similarities between women’s struggles against sexualized violence, educating the public about the ways in which women have mounted personal, collective and political resistance against it.

The People of Color (POC) Zine Project, Barnard Zine Library and For The Birds Collective are excited to announce a zine reading/community event featuring poc zinesters with diverse backgrounds in zine culture and activism. This is an ALL AGES event, so spread widely!

We’ll be adding more details to this event listing, but here are the confirmed readers and details:

Barnard Zine Libary: http://zines.barnard.edu/
Barnard’s zines are written by women (cis- and transgender) with an emphasis on zines by women of color. We collect zines on feminism and femme identity by people of all genders. The zines are personal and political publications on activism, anarchism, body image, third wave feminism, gender, parenting, queer community, riot grrrl, sexual assault, trans experience, and other topics.

FOR THE BIRDS: http://forthebirdscollective.org/
FOR THE BIRDS is a New York City-based feminist collective. We work towards establishing alternative spaces that promote the creative interests of women-identified community members. For the Birds is a collaborative group of organizers with backgrounds in feminism, social justice work, and various artistic pursuits. Through DIY feminist cultural activism, For The Birds aims to empower and support radical women of action.

POC ZINE PROJECT: https://www.facebook.com/pages/POC-Zine-Project/304152466201
We want to make it easier for POC (People of Color) zine fans and their supporters to find a diverse selection of zines made by POC. Zines are a vital component in the long tradition of self-publication. They share knowledge and experiences that supplement (and often contradict) the information that other sources distribute, encouraging free thought. There are many valuable zine collections in the United States (many accessible online) but none that are devoted to curating POC zines. POC Zine Project’s mission is to makes ALL zines by POC easy to find, share, and distribute.

FTB would like to announce the next event in the Birds of Summer Series: A benefit show to celebrate “The Worst”–a compilation zine exploring contributors’ experiences with grief and loss from radical, D.I.Y., and alternative viewpoints. The show will help to raise money to cover printing costs for the zine, which has sold nearly 1500 copies since its inception in 2008. There will be music, readings, snacks, awesome raffle items, and even a puppet show! Provided that by Saturday, September 3rd, everyone is safe, dry, and mobile again after the hurricane, we’d love to welcome everyone to come out and have a good time supporting a zine which seeks to build community around the universal (and often difficult) experience of loss.

Details below:

“Who’d ya lose & How ya Dealin’?”:
A benefit show for The Worst: Compilation Zine on Grief and Loss

While stumbling around the Bust Craftacular today I was fortunate enough to meet the wonderful people from the Lower Eastside Girls Club. The mission of the Girls Club is to “provide a place where girls and young women 8-23 can grow, learn, have fun, and develop confidence in themselves and their ability to make a difference in the world. By delivering strong arts, literacy, science, health and leadership programs we provide girls with the vision to plan – and the tools to build – their future.” For more information about the Club, their programs, and fundraising for the construction of a community space check out their website.

South Brooklyn ABCF cordially invites you to ‘Brunch Through Bars,’ a free brunch where we write to Political Prisoners & Prisoners of War at the Brooklyn Free School!

We’re doing this in solidarity and tribute to the bi monthly NYC ABCF Political-Prisoner Letter-Writing Dinner running for the past four years and counting– also with a salute to the letter-writing crew operating out of the Morales-Shakur Center in Harlem!

No experience corresponding with prisoners is necessary! We’ll briefly discuss a few prisoners to help inspire and prepare each other to write a letter, whether it’s a first-time introduction or part of a long-term correspondence between comrades.*

Brunch food and letter-writing materials will be provided, but anyone who is so moved is welcome to bring additional vegan or vegetarian food. That said, food-bringing is STRICTLY OPTIONAL. We aim to create an inclusive, welcoming space for building community and resistance. This event is open to all ages and there will be basic drawing and card-making supplies available for children.

*We’ll generally focus on long-term, class-struggle, anti-imperialist Prisoners of War & Political Prisoners while making connections with other prisoners as well. Briefly, Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War (PP/POWs) are, “those persons incarcerated as a result of political beliefs or actions consciously undertaken and intended to resist exploitation and oppression, and/or hasten the implementation of an egalitarian, sustainable, ethical, classless society, predicated on self determination and maximization of all people’s freedom (Bill Dunne). Our chapter of the ABC Federation also shares affinity with prisoners from the LGBTQ community and those imprisoned for acts of self defense.

For the Birds will be tabling this weekend at a benefit show for Support New York, a collective dedicated to healing the effects of sexual assault and abuse.
withTROPHY WIFETHE HOMEWRECKERSBORN IN A CENTCANDY HEARTS
SANDY AND THE RATS
(Doo-Wop-Punk realness featuring members of zombie dogs, titfit, homewreckers, carnal knowledge, snow day—first show ever!)

Coming up this week are a few events of interest to us here at For The Birds.

The first is a discussion at Bluestockingson Wednesdayentitled Women’s Radical Research, hosted by Kate Angell and Jenna Freedman. The event starts at 7pm, with a $5 suggested donation. According to the Bluestockings calendar:

Join librarians Kate Angell and Jenna Freedman for a look a 10 important resources for fostering your own critical pedagogy, including: zine libraries, open access scholarly journals, and carefully selected websites. Please bring notes about your favorite resources too! Angell is a reference librarian at Sarah Lawrence College and a zine librarian at ABC No Rio. Freedman is a research librarian at Barnard College and the creator of the Lower East Side Librarian zine.

The second is a Support NY benefit show on Thursday at Hank’s Saloon in Brooklyn where we will also be tabling! Hope to see some of you there.

And the grand finale of the week is the SPARK Summit at Hunter College. This all-day event is designed to push back against the sexualization of girls in the media and will work with girls age 14-22, along with other leaders and activists, to start a grassroots movement. The day will include panels, workshops and other speakers highlighting media literacy, social justice issues, and concrete ways to take action against harmful representations of girls and women in the media. Their roster of panelists is impressive, including members of Feministing.com, Women’s Media Center, Holla Back, Girls for Gender EquityandtheAmerican Psychological Association, among others. And if that’s not enough, Geena Davis will also be speaking! You can find out more and register at their website and even participate remotely, for those outside the NYC metropolitan area.

First and foremost thank you for an amazing turn out and great participation–we felt that this year’s Big She-Bang was a great success! However, what’s most important is what you thought! We have gained invaluable insight into how we can better work with our larger community from conducting post-event surveys in the past and we take your responses very seriously. Please take a moment to fill out our survey about this year’s event: what worked for you and what didn’t? What could we have done better? What was the most important part of the day for you? Your responses will be anonymous.

Presented in conjunction with their publication Modern Women: Women Artists at the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) hosted a symposium last Friday on Art Institutions and Feminist Politics Now. Through multiple presentations and panel discussions, artists and curators of various specialties started to examine what effect feminist politics and gender specifically have in their work and curatorial practice. They discussed the political impact of their curatorial choices as feminists, along with the extent to which certain feminist and queer images are silenced within larger art institutions (museums, biennales, art fairs, etc.).